Save the Bachelor of Heaven

In the fourteenth year of Tianshun, in the same year, Xiang Nan launched educational reforms in the mainland.

The first is to set up schools in rural areas across the country, funded by the state, and all teachers will be treated as ninth-grade officials, teaching literature, mathematics, history, geography, etc.

The second is to add many subjects such as geology, mathematics, architecture, water conservancy, machinery, finance, and law to county schools at or above the county level across the country.

The third is to gradually add subjects such as object research, mathematics, architecture, water conservancy, and machinery to the imperial examination. Students can choose a subject in which they think they are best at registering for the exam.

As for the teaching materials, they were all written by Xiang Nan himself.

This confused the courtiers and didn't understand what Xiang Nan meant.

Since ancient times, imperial examinations have been based on eight-part essays. Now Xiang Nan has added subjects such as studying objects, mathematics, architecture, water conservancy, machinery, and economics. It is really too willful.

"What you don't know is that the imperial examination began in the Sui Dynasty and developed in the Tang Dynasty." Xiang Nan explained, "The imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty originally included the Xiucai Section, the Jinshi Section, the Ming Jing Section, the Ming Fa Section, the Ming Zi Section and the Ming Dynasty. Arithmetic subjects are collectively referred to as six subjects.

Among them, the Xiucai, Jinshi, and Ming Jing subjects all rely on Confucian and Taoist classics and practical national policies, which are exactly the same as our current imperial examinations.

The Mingfa subject tests legal knowledge and selects judicial talents; the Mingzi subject mainly tests writing theory and calligraphy level; as for the Mingshu subject, it mainly tests mathematics and astronomy knowledge.

It can be seen that at the beginning of the imperial examination, it was to select various talents for the imperial court.

Nowadays, my imperial examination in Ming Dynasty only tests eight-legged essays. Although the selected talents are excellent in each eight-part essay, they are useless when it comes to practical national policies, economy and people's livelihood, laws and regulations, engineering, water conservancy, and history and geography.

There is a folk saying that scholars are the worst. When I memorize the articles, they are as rotten as mud. The country was originally a tactic to seek talents, but who knew it turned into a tactic to bully others. Three sentences carry the title, two sentences break the title, shaking the head and tail, it is said that it is Gaodi of the Holy Sect. Do you know what kind of article the three links and four histories are, and which dynasty emperor was the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, Tang Zong?

Therefore, I made reforms precisely to rectify the source and seek more talented people for our great Ming Dynasty, not just nerds who only know the poor scriptures. "

After hearing what he said, the officials were speechless.

…

When the imperial examination system was invented, it was indeed conducive to selecting talents. However, after so many years of development, by the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examination system had matured and become rigid.

In order to seek fame and fame, scholars ignore current affairs and study hard all day long. Just like Fan Jin, he was admitted to the Juren Examination from childhood to old age, and he was so excited that he went crazy.

Although he won the imperial examination, he later became a Jinshi, and became a scholar, general envoy, and a third-rank official. But he is not considered a good official, but a mediocre official who is smooth, sophisticated, good at disguise, and extremely hypocritical.

There are quite a few such mediocre officials in the government, and the anti-corruption campaign in the past few years has revealed a lot of them.

Such officials only know eight-part essays and basically know nothing about the economy and people's livelihood, laws and regulations, criminal investigation cases, etc., because they are often fooled by petty officials into applause.

Even if he originally wanted to be a good official, he might be deceived by petty officials and become a weak official.

Just like Jia Zheng in "A Dream of Red Mansions", he was promoted to an official position. Although he kept himself clean and did not engage in corruption or bribery, the family members who followed him took advantage of the opportunity to collect benefits, which eventually led to his being demoted to the third level. .

Therefore, there is an old saying, "No matter how clean your official position is, it will be hard for you to avoid being as slippery as oil."

Therefore, if we want to select capable officials, we have to change the assessment method. Otherwise, those elected will always be a group of mediocre people.

…

In order to promote education reform, Xiang Nan not only sent inspection teams many times to inspect and supervise various places, but also included the school's teaching situation and students' enrollment status in the assessment of officials, so that they could develop education more carefully.

In addition, he also established a Diligent Study Fund to encourage students who achieve good results. Students who can achieve excellent results in the exam will receive rewards from the court, which can reach up to fifty taels of silver, provided by the court to encourage students to study more diligently.

After many measures, the enrollment rate of students in the Ming Dynasty increased significantly. In the past, it took three generations of efforts to support a scholar.

Now that the imperial court is free of tuition and book fees, more people can study. Moreover, if you go to school well and can receive scholarships, it is naturally more attractive to poor students.

It only takes ten years to grow trees and a hundred years to cultivate people. If education reform is to be effective, it will take ten or eight years, but Xiang Nan is still willing to persevere.

After all, in a few decades, Europe will develop. At that time, if the Ming Dynasty still clings to the Four Books, Five Classics and Eight-Part Articles, it will definitely be overthrown.

…

In the 16th year of Tianshun, the Ming army regained the northwest, and Xiang Nan once again issued an order to immigrate to the Western Regions.

Because of the previous successful immigration from the Northeast, a large number of people were really able to receive fields, houses, seeds, and livestock after arriving in the Northeast. Therefore, with the decree of immigrating to the Western Regions, the people of Heluo, Sanqin, and Ganliang were all willing to go to the Western Regions.

After regaining the northwest, Xiang Nan launched the third expedition without stopping, sending troops from the capital, northeast, and northwest together. The three armies besieged the Oara and Tatar tribes on three sides.

Moreover, Xiang Nan insisted on conquering in person this time, avenging his previous humiliation.

None of the ministers could stop him, and they didn't dare to stop him anymore.

After all, after being the emperor for so many years, Xiang Nan had already developed the power of being consistent and consistent in the court. The ministers who dared to oppose him were either demoted or transferred away. The entire court was Xiang Nan's dictum.

Naturally they did not dare to disobey his will.

Because of this, Xiang Nan said that he wanted to personally conquer the army, so they had no choice but to obey his orders.

After Xiang Nan announced his expedition, he handed over state affairs to Prince Zhu Jianshen.

Zhu Jianshen is the Chenghua Emperor in history. His evaluation in the history books is that "there is no beginning for the emperor, and there is an end for the emperor." In the early days of his succession, he was still able to work hard to govern, reuse virtuous ministers, comply with the people's sentiments, and save punishments.

But in the middle and later stages, he began to be lazy and lazy. Not only did he favor Concubine Wan Gui, but he also learned alchemy and used traitors, which almost caused catastrophe.

Therefore, Zhu Jianshen is pretty good now. Especially after being educated and guided by Xiang Nan for so many years, it is no problem to be a prisoner.

After handing over state affairs to Zhu Jianshen, Xiang Nan then led an army of 50,000 to invade Mongolia through Xuanhua.

In addition to the 50,000-strong army, there were hundreds of thousands of civilians accompanying the army to transport food. It is worth mentioning that these civilian husbands are all rich.

It’s different from before. In the past, civilians had to carry grain as corvees recruited by the imperial court. Not only did they have no money to pay for it, they even had to carry dry food, clothes, and travel expenses themselves, which can be said to be miserable.

However, Xiang Nan knew the pain of corvée and was unwilling to let the people suffer, so the people had money to transport grain. And, strictly enforce it. Whoever dares to commit corruption will have his head chopped off.